Dr. Morbius (Bill Weber) RIP

This is very sad, I will miss Dr. Morbius very much.

thanks to everyone who knew him irl for your posts, he always seemed the curmudgeon with a heart of gold and i'm glad to hear that he was.

don't have anything to add other than he will be greatly missed, i consider him one of the handful of real ilx legendary posters and the few times i sparred with him sufficiently in a politics thread to have him snap back at me i was secretly kind of thrilled to be on the receiving end one of his volleys.

RIP morbs the internet won't be the same without you.

Sad to hear this. It's really nice to read all of these beautiful remembrances.

Oh, Bill. He let me like my dumb martial arts movies and even took me to a kung-fu film fest once--pearls before swine, given my ignorance about any kind of film. Another time, we saw "Kiss Me, Kate" in 3-D at the Lincoln Center Theater just because we could, on a week day when everyone else was working and the other 5 people in the theater were obvious retirees.

I skated over his most venomous posts because they just didn't register as coming from the gentle, affable friend I knew, who knew everyone, it seemed, and knew a lot about everything. His lifelong rejection of cell phones and his perambulations around NYC while he waited for the rest of us to show up to places are just a small piece of the legend.

before then I don't think I'd appreciated the obvious and visible love and affection in which he was held by a group of people much younger than him

Bill met all of us where we were and whatever we were interested in, generously sharing everything he knew on a variety of subjects, and never foregrounding himself. It was years before I realized, as someone whose gay friends were mostly much younger, that Bill had lived through AIDS in NYC when a generation was lost, and what that meant to who he became.

As always, he's gone down the road a little ahead of us and will no doubt have some caustic observations to share when we catch up.

I think I think of "how fast could i k.o. this chickenshit hillbilly?" about once a month

RIP Morbs
In honor should post some Dennis Perrin tweets

wow in orbit thank you for writing that ;_;

RIP. Dr. Morbius. A legend of ILX.

Damn, this thread makes me misty all over again every time I open it.

I think I think of "how fast could i k.o. this chickenshit hillbilly?" about once a month

― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, October 22, 2020 11:00 AM (six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

It only grows more relevant with time. That and "you *will* sequentially meet me and Brooklyn pavement" are evergreen.

may some of y'all's consciences be very heavy on you for a bit.

― Three Word Username, Thursday, October 22, 2020 7:36 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

one of the things that made Morbz great is he would never post something this smarmy

Agreed.

For real. Morbs was not afraid of conflict and he was always 100% himself whether people liked it or not. He wasn’t some wilting flower people should feel guilty about arguing with.

We mourn the loss of Bill Weber, a beloved member of the WFMU family. His sister wrote: "A champion of the oppressed, Bill fought for the rights of all people 'othered' - LGBTQ+, Black, Brown, disabled, imprisoned, asylum seeking. Bill loved his NY Mets, WFMU, SABR, & film." 1/2. pic.twitter.com/QxlldOWvBN

— WFMU (@WFMU) October 22, 2020

Bill was a dedicated WFMU supporter and volunteer for decades, and a welcome presence at our Record Fairs and fundraising marathons. He was also a big part of the ILX community, and we share in their sorrow over his passing after facing a challenging illness for many years. RIP.

— WFMU (@WFMU) October 22, 2020

<3

just donated $20 to WFMU

$20 that won't go to Joe Biden, no better tribute.

This is heartbreaking. And there’s so many lovely posts in this thread.

I thought of Morbs frequently while reading the compilation of NY Press movie reviews, musing that Morbs really seemed like the best kind of synthesis of '90s-era Cheshire and White sensibilities.

x-post Nah, some of you are playing like it was loving fun and on your part it very clearly wasn't. There was real nasty, nasty shit aimed at Bill and it's self-serving to pretend there wasn't. I said you consciences should be heavy, but I have no reason to expect it will happen. Just expressing my disgust at some of the self-serving hagiography the way Bill would, I like to think.

shut the fuck up

There's the true face, you shitbirds.

cool tribute you sanctimonious prick

fp-ing and moving on

Just saw this. I'm a sporadic poster and had few if any direct interactions with him, but I knew he was dealing with cancer and was glad that he'd gone to be with family — was glad to know that he had family who'd care for him! Always sensed the world had really changed in a profoundly dispiriting way for him, as Alfred suggests, and admired his sheer persistence despite it. I read the occasional review he did on Slant and would be kind of surprised by how smart and sensible he sounded when here he seemed so much to be a needle in people's sides! But he was a quintessential presence on this board, and I'm particularly sorry to hear of his passing for all of you who've been close to him over the years. RIP.

fp-ing and moving on

― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson)

otm. neither the time nor the place for that kind of thing.

I knew he was dealing with cancer and was glad that he'd gone to be with family — was glad to know that he had family who'd care for him!

We commiserated a couple times on how our nieces charmed and exasperated us as gay bachelors.

Alfred, your tribute was lovely. Slow curtain. The end.

I detest cheap sentiment.

Thanks, Eric. It's you and me now, kid.

Killer to killer.

I remember us throwing back G&Ts at Julius', and very shortly after that seeing Julius' major supporting role in "Can You Ever Forgive Me" and realizing CYEFM is as much as a Bill Weber New York Fever Dream of a movie as I've ever watched -- it's utterly within his universe. That stubborn tenacity of being the kind of aging New Yorker who writes Tallulah Bankhead biographies no one reads and chats with the bartender as the afternoon light streams through the window of the battered old gay haunt.

Was happy when he finally started The Sopranos (library copy) and for once had nothing snarky to say about contemporary television, since he knew and recognized the New Jersey terrain so well. Good to see a different side of him in those threads.

i really looked up to him in spite of having a few bad interactions with him over the years. i thought of him as one of a few parental figures on the lgbtq threads. i'm sadder than i thought i would be just because i didn't apologize or connect with him beyond the bullshit. weird how someone can approach being 'family' even when you don't make enough of an effort. really nice to read all the tributes.

gb I was thinking about Morbs and that movie when I was lying awake last night contemplating the end and feeling isolated, provincial, ungenerous, and unambitious. xxp

Underneath the Morbs persona he was truly a scholar & from all accounts an IRL gentleman. He was one of my few almost-peers back in the classic ilx day, we bonded on vintage NYC anecdotage and didn't agree on much else but I respected his perspective. I knew he had health issues from his discreet FB posts, but hoped he was on the mend. So his loss is a sad shock. fuck 2020

I wish I had talked to Dr Morbius more about Jack Benny

xp map

don't feel too bad, map. sometimes just continuing to be there (here) says a lot. i think it definitely said a lot about bill, over the years, that he kept coming back too. around the time i joined ilx, it seemed like he was battling half of the board (sometimes the other way around, too). i think i probably said some mean or unfair things to him then, a couple of times, almost as a rite of passage. he never mentioned any of that stuff to me (and i hoped he had forgotten). he really was familial, in that way, and i'm sure if you would have met him, map, he would have been the same way toward you.

Pseu Braun giving a very sweet tribute to Bill right now on WFMU.

lol she just shouted out ilx and "Dr. Morbius"

RIP Morbius. One of my favorite posters ever here.

thanks km

RIP Dr Morbs

Always true to himself.

It's good to see so many of you got the chance to spend time with him in the real world and have such great memories.

Aw man, this is such sad news. I always loved having an unabashed leftist like Morbs on the politics threads. This place will be diminished without him.

one of the more remarkable things about him hanging out with me at DJ gigs was that I was often playing Ableton techno/house sets to crowds of drunk 20-somethings like myself, and he didn't care much for the music I was playing...but he hung out with me anyway.

lol just remembered when he came to a DJ night i did in brooklyn - i played this house-y edit of "you make loving fun" and he came up to me and said "what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??"

hahah

lol

that's great

finally had a chance to read all of this, very touching

ahaha, excellent.

of all the ILXors to be a dependable supporter of various ILXor DJ nights, he's not the first person I would've thought of.

"what are you DOING to fleetwood mac??"

:D